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April 09 A legend in the CHRISTmas display world passesFRANKENMUTH, Mich. APRIL 1st 2009-- Wally Bronner, whose Christmas retail empire (BRONNER'S CHRISTmas Wonderland)made Frankenmuth one of Michigan's most popular tourist destinations but who strove to keep the focus on the Nativity and Christian tradition, has died. He was 81.
Bronner's death was confirmed Wednesday by Kim Cederberg, owner of Cederberg Funeral Home of Frankenmuth, which is handling funeral arrangements. He provided no other details. The Saginaw News reported that Bronner died Tuesday. His relatives notified employees of Bronner's Christmas Wonderland last week that he had inoperable cancer. Shoppers from all over the country have come for years to Bronner's to take in what is touted as the world's largest Christmas store. "You want to know the truth?" he asked a Detroit Free Press reporter in 2004. "The truth is no decorations are needed at all at Christmas. What's really needed at Christmas is that we decorate our hearts. "We get so busy with all of our preparations that we forget that this is such an important time of year to stop and take time to reflect on our lives, our faith, our world. "What matters most to me? Helping people to decorate their hearts with peace and love." Wallace "Wally" Bronner was born in Frankenmuth on March 9, 1927, the youngest of Herman and Ella Bronner's three children. He started a sign-painting business in his parents' basement in 1943 and expanded it to include decorating parade floats and fair booths and designing window displays. In 1951, Bronner met several merchants from Clare who were looking for Christmas decorations for lampposts in their city. Aided by his first full-time employee, Eddie Beyerlein, Bronner designed and produced Christmas panels for them. He married Irene Pretzer of Hemlock the same year. Bronner learned that other cities in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Ontario also were interested in commercial decorations. He held his first decorations exhibit in the spring of 1952 in Frankenmuth's Township Hall. Two years later, he and his wife constructed their first permanent building in the middle of Frankenmuth -- half of it dedicated to the sign painting business, the other half accommodating the Christmas decorations. The store offered decorations for cities and shopping centers as well as gifts and trims for the home in religious, traditional and toyland themes. Another building was acquired in 1966 and a third in 1971. He was laid to rest on Monday. God bless Irene and the family during this difficult time
April 01 Plans for 2008 are here Announcing!!!
PHASE 4
The next addition for 2008
In my 3rd car garage I am adding an animated santa scene Diarama.
The scene is modeled after this Picture (with no elves)
The scene is made up of Gemmy 5' and 4' animated dancing singing Santa and Mrs claus
the backdrop is made of a painters canvas it will have a fire place and a 6' tree.
It will be controlled my my Light O Rama cmb16dc 16 channel dc computer contoller board
It will then be hooked into the remaining comuter controllers.
I have been picking up peices and materials for this display since 2004.
I have all the materials necessary to complete the project.
the scene will be encase in a plexiglass front
December 23 MERRY CHRISTmasMERRY CHRISTmas!!!
Well The season is almost over and the lights were a complete success even after I had the failures with the Train.
Well SANTA came thru (ok well I figured it out ) and just in time for CHRISTmas
THE TRAIN IS NOW RUNNING. !!!
I picked up a couple of powerwheels motors off a used powerwheels jeep and built an powered gear box and got the train running
last night so it will run tonight thru christmas!!
Here are some day time pics of the gear box and the train on the track
MERRY CHRISTmas!!
November 20 Display going upWell it's thanksgiving week. and I am about 2/3rds done with setting up the display. The ginger bread theme's 2nd season installed well wih minor failure lost 2 led bulbs. the mega flagpole tree lost 1 strand but so far things are going somewhat smoothly Although I have a LOT of work left most of it is conecting up power sources and light o rama computer boards.
i hava a fix for the train and should have it runing by this weekend the track curves and staights are done i just need to conect them and the make a test run. Although the train has been quite the task it is comeing to completion. and hope fully i can work on other projects like hackng my gemmy dancing santa an begin to draw up the plans for my ice pond. already i am pondering the project for next season.
but for know i have quite the to do list for tomorrow and friday. btw its supposed to get cold tonight and SNOW!! so we will see how much out side i get done.
we will see i still have a few $$ project for my light clients that ned to be done this weekend too. November 12 MAJOR FAILURE!!Well
We tested the engine and the motor had a major failure within 3 minutes.
on of my rail casters came off the motor the engine got bound up on the track and smoked the motor causing
MAJOR wiring harness melt down. I rebuil the wiring harness and although I would like to rebuild the motor it is unrepairable.
I have resorted to another motor option power wheel gear box motors I hope to have the engine up and running by this weekend.
Santa would be proud that i did not just give up for this season but turdged on with another solution.
will keep you posted.
mean while the decorations for this season are going up and its looking really good. its gonna be a great year
October 08 IT LIVES!!! (train update)IT LIVES ( mad laughing) THE TRAIN LIVES!!!!
I finished wiring up the cars and the engine it's AWESOME
Enjoy thi pics
On to building the track. October 05 Train UpdateAlmost done painting the train. Should have the cars all witred up this weekend and then its onto the TRACK!!
here is some pics
September 27 Train UpdateWOW!!
It hard to believe this build is coming into the final phase. it seems like A long marathon and i am on the last miles. I have finally finished the train engine and car builds. I have started painting the 1st 2 coats of primer and then I hope to paint the color on this weekend. Once the painting is done I will wire up the power train and the lights in the cars and then the final phase begins building the track.
Enjoy the pics.
July 29 ENGINE CHASSIS IS ALMOST DONE!!TRAIN UPDATE!!
I bought a battery for the train last Sunday. I mounted it to a battery mount inside the tank of the engine. I bu ilt the tank around the battery and also built the cab chassis. I finished the chassis today I still need to complete the tank skin and the cab roof and then install the wiring harness.
I am about 1/2 way thru to completing this project
enjoy the pics July 06 ENGINE CHASSISBegan building the chassis for the engine base. The tank is a 3/4" plywood cut to a 10.5" diameter and then cut in 1/2. I then ripped 4-1x1x12" pieces of wood to connect the 2 pieces of plywood together . I will pick up the deep cycle battery today and will also finish the rough in of the engine cab and then will be ready to paint. enjoy the pics June 09 ENGINE BASE DONE!!Engine base IS DONE!!
The engine base is complete the motor is mounted and wires run for chassis. The rail runners are installed.
I set the engine base and 1st car base on a makeshift track made from a pallet. I scrapped the 3rd wheel idea. the middle fixed axel just was not working.
Here are the pics ENJOY!! June 07 TRAIN UPDATECar bases are done, and axles are ready for assembly. I need to purchase a bunch of wheels and casters to complete the cars but so far its looking good. Started the engine base frame last night should have that ready for running by this weekend.
enjoy the pictures
May 22 TRAIN UPDATE Powertrain readyThe slip shafts have been installed to the motor and the wheels installed the power train is ready to be assembled to the train frame.
I used threaded brass pipe for the slip shaft extensions because they fit snug. I cut out the keyed slots and then attached them to galvanized bell reducers. I used 3/4" threaded pipe and 3/4" threaded pipe caps to complete the axels. (see enclosed pictures). I hope to have the engine frame assmebled and ready to run over the Holiday weekend.
Here are pictures . May 08 TRAIN CARS SELECTED!!Train UPDATE!!
I have selected the cars that I will be building. I chose them from a Christmas train website. I took the pictures off the website. There will be some modifications and deviations from these original photos. these are just a pattern.
HERE ARE MY SELECTIONS April 28 1st car is coming niceleyTrain UPDATE!!
Today I cutout the 13x18 " 3/4" plywood piece for car #1 i also ripped a 2x6x 18" board into a 1X6x18" baord and attached that to the 3/4" plywood base and then set my 2x6 axels on the base and will attach that to the base its coming together Nicely. see pics below April train build update Train build Update....
The wooden axels for each of the cars are done. they are made from 2x6 planks cut into 9" lengths
the reason I cut to 9" instead of 10" was because the wheels would rubb against the 2x6 causing drag. I put a 1/2" x1/2" spacer beween the 2x6 and the wheel rims this gives me a 10" rail spacing while giving the wheel space to run drag free. I attached the 2x6 to a 5" caster. The caster is the swivel point for the axels. the 2x6 had to plained a bit so the swiviel of the axel ran free of drag. pics of the axel build are enclosed in this post. more updates soon April 01 Train build update!!The motor for the train arrived last Saturday. It is a very well built motor. I hooked it up to my battery charger and I get varible speeds when I switch the power ratios on the charger. this is a good sign that a speed controller my not be necessary. The next cahllenge was how do i mound this motor to the casters and the frame? Well after spending some time on the phone with Bryce Kindla, Planet Christmas member in Frisco TX. We tried to come up with several plans BUT the one plan that stuck out the most was to cut into the caster and make a mounting bolt plate and weld it to the bottom of the caster and bolt the motor to it.
So I fabricated a way to do this. (see the attached pics without the mounting plate. I picked up the wheels this week for the engine and I also picked up the 1/2 steel rods for axels. However when I cut one of the rods into 12" sections, I realized I needed them in 14" sections so i can achieve a 10" rail spacing. Oops will have to get more 1/2 steel rod.
My Neighbor Randy has agreed to assist me in welding the frame and stuff together. I sent him a pic of the frame and a drawing. we will begin the welding process soon. I also bwegan to re wire the wiring harness from the power wheels motor. I eliminated the shifters and switches. and added one on off switch to the harness.
The Engine is beginning to come together. will post more again soon. March 08 TRAIN BUILD UPDATETrain build update
I have most of the parts to begin building the frame and powerplant for the train engine
enclosed is pictures of parts so far.
4 36" 3/4" Tube steel
2 of the 3 large casters that will be used for the axels of the train
8 2" casters for rail runners
4 5" casters to e used as axels for 2 cars
and a wiring harness from a powewheels motor.
just need to find a good welder who can weld the frame together
will keep you posted March 02 TRAIN BUILD UPDATE!!TRAIN BULD UPDATE!! Well I believe I have found the motor for my train. $155.00. Its a twin axel shaft so would not need a sprocket or chain. Will probably need a speed control will test it first. NPC sells motors for robotic battle bots. as well as wheel chair motors. http://www.npcrobotics.com/products/viewprod.asp?prod=38&cat=20&mode=gfx Here is the cad for the motor. http://www.npcrobotics.com/cad/npc-2212.pdf here is the Dynamometer specs
Im not a good welder so I will have to find someone who can weld my frame together for me . That will be a challenge. Other wise Im getting closer to buildinf the frame and power plant for the train then the next step will be the chassis. Will keep you posted. February 24 ANNOUNCING!! this years additions to the displayANNOUNCING!!!
THIS YEAR'S PROPOSED ADDITIONS TO THE DISPLAY (provided i do not runout of $$)
THE TRAIN!! A homemade (no plans) built ,real running ,THOMAS THE TANK CHRISTMAS TRAIN!!
1 to 2 more Light O Rama CTB-16D compter control boards. This will bring the channel count to 64 to 80 channels
Adding stobe features to the display to add magic
MORE WIRE
Need about 1000 ft of SPT-2 zip wire and ends for the channels that will be added.
Need a 1000 ft spool of C7 wire for the house and the train track
MORE LED'S (this is a Lower priority)
IF Time allows...
The working ice skating pond.
A interactive Santa and Mrs Santa that will go into a scene in the 3rd car garage. WIll see if i get this one done in 07!
For the 4th of July Display..
Sync the display to patriotic music
create working lighted fireworks
an IWO-JIMA Cutout with a real 48 star flag!
For the 911 display...
A huge twin towers cut out
2 spotlight rememberance
For Halloween
THE GREAT PUMPKIN PATCH!!
complete with Linus, Charlie brown, Sally, Lucy and Snoopy.
this is the list. will probably not get it all done but will do my best and keep you posted
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